There are lots of vacancies at Red Deer’s Asooahum Crossing.

On Monday night, Red Deer Native Friendship Society (RDNFS) in partnership with the Red Deer Housing Authority (RDHA) had put in a joint application for housing solutions money in the amount of $50,000 with the City of Red Deer for one time, one-year funding for subsidies for the Asooahum housing program.

“We put this in back in November so it hadn’t gone to council, said Lianne Hazell, RDNFS director of administration.

“They asked us wonderful questions and we had a great dialogue with them.”

Although 16 units opened last spring, there are currently only six families living there right now, with another six on the wait list.

“The six people who have been approved to move in are on a wait list of sorts. We’re just waiting to see if we can help them increase their income because their income threshold to move in would then be higher. They would be paying higher than the 30 per cent allowed for rent out of their entire income.”

Council decided to table the report for up to four weeks in recognition that rent supplements are predominantly a provincial jurisdiction and are waiting for additional information from the provincial government.

They are also requesting additional information from City administration.

“There was substantial questions around providing operational dollars. Council recognizes that predominantly rent supplements are provided by the provincial government so council had questions about why the matter was coming before council as opposed to being funded through a provincial program,” said Mayor Tara Veer.

Hazell said they were hoping they could secure the one-time, one-year subsidy for families moving in now.

“We’re still really positive about the response from council because if they’re asking for more information, that means they’re interested,” said Hazell.